A. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a device used as a laying aid for tile work, comprising a base element having a support region for laying flat on a surface to be covered with tiles, and a tile-supporting region on which tiles are placed, the tile-supporting region having at least two web-like spacer elements which extend perpendicularly with respect to a plane defined by the tile-supporting region and which are arranged at an angle of an integer multiple of 90° relative to one another in said plane, and which have a thickness corresponding to a desired joint spacing.
B. Background of the Invention
Laying aids of the above-mentioned type for tile work are used to simplify laying of wall or floor tiles so that a uniform laying pattern having uniform joint widths between the tiles may be achieved. In the present context, the term “tiles” is understood to mean all types of tiles and/or plates for walls and/or floors, made of various materials including glass, natural stone, ceramic, or metal. In addition, within the scope of the invention the surface to be covered with tiles may be a floor as well as a wall. In the simplest case, known laying aids are designed as jointing crosses, wedges, or the like, and are used to maintain equal joint widths. The known laying aids are inserted as spacers into the joints between the tiles. A disadvantage of the known jointing crosses is that they do not provide stability during the laying, i.e., before the tile grout sets. A further disadvantage of this simplest previously known type of laying aid for tile work is that it does not assist in achieving evenness of the tile covering.
Therefore, a laying aid for tiles is known from DE 82 35 842 U1, having a lattice whose lattice bars fix the tiles, so that the individual lattice cells formed between the lattice bars have the same size as the tiles. Reinforcing webs run transversely through the lattice cells, either diagonally or parallel with respect to the lattice bars. Using this known laying aid for tile work, in comparison to simple jointing crosses, for example, the tiles are laid flat, since the reinforcing webs specify a laying plane. In addition, sliding of the laying aid during laying is prevented due to the mass of the tiles placed on the laying aid. However, in these known laying aids it is disadvantageous that they are very inconvenient to use, since by principle they must extend over the dimensions of multiple tiles. A further disadvantage is that this known laying aid may even have to have a surface which corresponds to the floor to be laid, which is particularly inconvenient. In addition, the large-surface structure of the known laying aid has the disadvantage that large regions of the tiles or plates to be laid are not wetted by adhesive due to the fact that they are covered by the reinforcing webs running diagonally or parallel with respect to the lattice bars. This may disadvantageously result in insufficient bonding and adhesion of the tiles to the subsurface.
Lastly, a laying aid for tile work is known from DE 29 604 286 U1, which is essentially composed of an interwoven lattice made of a finely meshed net in which jointing crosses having the grid dimensions of the tiles are arranged. It is stated that the known interwoven lattice achieves a strong, durable connection with the subsurface, and the interwoven lattice provides additional reinforcement. A disadvantage of this known laying aid for tile work is that it, too, may be impractical to use due to the dimensions, which correspond to the surface area of multiple tiles, or even to the entire area to be laid. In addition, use of the interwoven lattice, which runs continuously between the floor and the underside of the tiles, entails the risk that adhesion of the tiles to the floor may be impaired due to the fact that the wetting of the tiles with tile adhesive is interrupted.